Minimum unit price for alcohol proposal shelved

Health groups condemn government's U-turn on measure and accuse it of caving in to lobbying from drink industry

Cans of lager and cider at an off-licence. Home Office minister Jeremy Browne said the ban on the 'egregious' sale of alcohol for below the level of duty and VAT would mean a can of lager would cost at least 40p. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

Health groups have strongly condemned the government for failing to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol and substituting a series of measures to curb excessive drinking that they say will not work. They warn that more lives will now be lost.

The Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), which includes medical royal colleges and specialist doctors as well as campaigners, accused the government of buckling to pressure from the drink industry, which has fiercely opposed minimum pricing – a measure which is supported by doctors, children's charities, pub landlords and the police.

"Today's announcement confirms that the government has caved in to lobbying from big business and reneged on its commitment to tackle alcohol sold at pocket money prices," said Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the AHA.

"We know that minimum pricing will work and there is a huge level of support from frontline workers, including doctors and the police. Alternative measures outlined in today's announcement will have little or no impact – they are just a smokescreen to hide how the government has turned its back on public health."

In a surprising move, Public Heath England (PHE), which is the quasi-autonomous arm of the Department of Health that was created in April as a result of the NHS reforms, made clear it disagreed with the government decision.

In a statement it said it "shares the disappointment of the public health community that the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol is not being taken forward at this point, although it recognises that this remains under active consideration".

PHE exists to present the scientific evidence on matters affecting people's health, it pointed out – and the evidence, in its view, is mounting that a minimum unit price works.

"From a public health perspective, the evidence base for minimum unit price (MUP) is already strong and growing," said Prof Kevin Fenton, PHE's director of health and wellbeing. "Alcohol misuse is a major cause of early death and dysfunction for individuals, their families and the community.

"There is strong evidence that MUP would make cheap and higher-strength alcohol less available, with the greatest impact being in younger and in heavier drinkers. Six countries including Canada have introduced minimum pricing for alcohol and we are beginning to see significant benefits. PHE will take forward a comprehensive and scientific review of all the available evidence to inform the government's final decision on implementation of this measure."

The government's U-turn was announced in a statement to the Commons by the Home Office minister Jeremy Browne, who said there was not enough concrete evidence that the unit price of 45p, which had been floated last year, would reduce the level of problem drinking without "penalising those who drink responsibly".

Browne also ruled out a ban on multi-buy promotions due to a "lack of convincing evidence" that it would have a significant effect on consumption.

"We will tackle the most egregious examples of cheap alcohol by banning sales of alcohol below the value of alcohol duty and VAT," he said.

"This will come into effect in England and Wales no later than spring 2014 and will stop the worst instances of deep discounting which result in alcohol being sold cheaply and harmfully.

"It will no longer be legal to sell a can of ordinary strength lager for less than about 40p."

But the AHA said that without minimum unit pricing, the package of measures the government proposes to introduce was worthless.

Banning cut-price alcohol would make little difference, it said, citing the findings of a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

"A ban on sales of alcohol below the cost of duty plus VAT will affect less than 1% of products sold in shops and off-licences," said Dr Vivienne Nathanson, director of professional activities for the British Medical Association, an AHA member. "No one can seriously expect voluntary partnerships with the drinks industry to solve our nation's drinking problem.

"Real-life experience of minimum pricing in Canada has shown some tremendous results – with a 10% increase in the price of cheapest drinks leading to a 32% reduction in wholly alcohol-related deaths.

"In ignoring this evidence and not listening to frontline workers, the government is taking a position that will cost lives and do nothing to reduce alcohol-related crime and disorder."

Health bodies and campaigners are deeply disturbed by what they see as the government's abandonment of public health. Last week it postponed the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes, which the former health secretary Andrew Lansley had said could deter young people from starting to smoke.

Hopes had been high for alcohol minimum unit pricing after David Cameron said publicly that he was in favour of it. The Faculty of Public Health (FPH), which brings together public health doctors around the country, announced last weekend that it was withdrawing from the government's responsibility deal – the voluntary agreement with industry on reducing the marketing of unhealthy food and drink – over the tobacco and alcohol decisions. Its president, Prof John Ashton, said the FPH was dismayed and disappointed.

"These decisions lead us to conclude that the only available way left for the government to shape public health policy is through the responsibility deals, which FPH has been part of. Despite continued lobbying for effective monitoring and evaluation, there is no evidence that the 'softly softly' approach of engaging with industry rather than using legislation to improve people's health has been more effective or quicker," he said.

The FPH was withdrawing because it believed that there were "more effective ways for our expert members to influence policy and improve health", he said.

Alcohol Concern said the government had given in to industry. "The prime minister, in his foreword to the alcohol strategy, recognised that some policies would be faced with opposition. He said the responsibility of being in government isn't always about doing the popular thing. It's about doing the right thing," said Eric Appleby, its chief executive.

"But today's announcement signals a huge step away from 'doing the right thing', as the best chance we had of tackling the problems caused by cheap drink has been kicked into the long grass. Government has simply caved in to industry lobbying."

The alcohol industry, however, was pleased with the government announcement. "We welcome the announcement that the government will continue important partnership working with the drinks industry," said a statement from the Portman Group. "Through a series of voluntary pledges aimed at improving public health, the industry has proven itself to be committed and willing partners and welcomes the opportunity to continue this successful approach."